Rainsongs story Warriors
by Wolf eyes in the mist
Summary: A quick story i wrote up one upon a time. About a character i named Rainsong and how SHE got HER warrior name. Its not finished but has just been sitting on my hard-drive for months without being edited sooo.... yeah. Disclaimer: I don't own warriors...
1. Chapter 1

Rainpaw glanced around the sandy clearing a second time. there wasnt a soul in sight. not on the coarse grey sand or on the blanket of multicolored leaves that always covered the forest floor during Leaffall. she was alone. finally, truly, completely alone. sure she had to ditch her denmates halfway across the forest while the five of them gathered moss for the elders den. Mapleclan was overflowing with apprentices. Every warrior was a mentor to atleast one apprentice and there were kits ready to become apprentices just as soon as a warrior was available. since when did it take five apprentices to gather moss? Cloudstar was just coming up with things for them to do while their mentors were out on patrols... something about not wanting to have another clan see how weak they were. Rainpaw couldn't understand it yet. having more apprentices then warriors didn't make them weak in her mind. she could fight as well as any warrior. if anything they were the strongest clan in the forest right now.

Cloudstar was a mousebrain and that was that.

Rainpaw had better things to do, it only took one apprentice to gather moss, and the more she trained; the sooner she could become a warrior and start helping her clan.

right?

Rainpaw circled around her imaginary foe, dodged a blow, then counter attacked. She could imagine her claws catching in fur and leaving a trail of crimson behind them, could imagine her opponent staggering a step to the side and preparing to jump at her. she rushed forwards the moment her imaginary foes feet left the ground, ran underneath its body, leapt up and grabbed for its tail. but her claws and teeth just met empty air... she landed on her side with a grunt and slowly stood up dazed.

"i guess that would work better with a real opponent..." she sighed as she shook some of the dust from her light grey pelt. a moment later she was up and fighting again as if nothing had happened.

she dodged to the left to avoid outstretched claws, flung herself into the air before the next attack could come, twisted, and landed squarely where her opponents back would have been. She paused, breathing heavily. Had she actually done that? That was one of the moves she'd been unable to complete the last time her mentor and her were training. A small purr of pride flowed warmly through her and she could practically hear her mentors praise right now. And then suddenly, she could hear his voice, not just in her head, but in her ears.

"Rainpaw! i don't know if i should be proud or angry."

Rainpaw turned to see her mentor padding out of the shadows that his fur hid him in so well.

"What were you thinking? Running off like that? Not telling anyone where you went. Half the camp is convinced that your dead!"

In the blink of an eye his expression softened. He stood about a tails length away from her now.

"Come on.... lets get back to camp and let them know your all right."

Rainpaw just nodded, glad to see that for the moment her mentors anger had diminished... that was one of his best qualities in her mind, he could never stay angry for long. It made him a good father and a great mentor.

Something hit her, knocking the air from her lungs.

Quick as a flash, she unsheathed her claws and whirled on her attacker.

"Get down!" she heard a voice hiss in her ears. She sheathed her claws at the sound of her mentors voice and looked at him with a questioning expression. Before she could ask the question, he flicked his tail across his lips and then gestured towards the camp.... no not at the camp... at a shadowy form sitting near the gorge. her eyes widened, what was a fox doing so close to Mapleclan?

"we need to chase it off!" his voice hissed in her ear, just loud enough for her to understand. "if it gets into the clan..." his voice wandered off, but she didn't need him to finish. she could guess at the destruction a fox could create from inside the camp. "I'll distract it... you run as fast as you can and bring help."

Before she could say a word or even nod in agreement, Riversong was up and running, streaking across the clearing besides to gorge. The fox noticed him a heartbeat later.

Rainstorm darted out from behind the bush, sticking to the treeline and praying to starclan that the fox wouldn't notice her. She could hear the sounds of fighting slowly fading.

Thunder followed the clan leaders words. "Rainsong! Rainsong!" The cheer arose from her clan mates all around her. "Rainsong! Rainsong!" She knew she should be happy, just as any apprentice when they got their warrior name... but something was missing. "Rainsong!" Slowly the chant died down.

"Tonight, we honor a new warrior... and the passing of another... Riversong shall be forever honored by mapleclan." Cloudstars words brought a ripple of murmuring that he quickly silenced with a tail gesture.

"For those of you who don't know, Riversong gave his life to protect mapleclan's kits, apprentices, and elders. His scent and the fox's disappear over edge of the gorge..."


	2. A moon after Chapter 1

_Just a little closer, you can do it._ Rainsong mentally coached herself as she inched forwards, closer to the squirrel she was stalking. Every hair on her pelt was screaming out to pounce, to sink her claws into the animals flank, to taste the warm blood as she killed it. Her instincts said go, but her training said stop, said she was still too far to have more then the slimmest hope of catching it.

It wouldn't be the first time she'd made the mistake of ignoring her training.

Ever since Riversongs death... She just wasn't the same cat anymore. The responsibilities of a warrior had taken her completely off guard. Only a single moon had passed and already she'd been given an apprentice to train and care for. The thought of Juniperpaw brought her mind back to the present. Back to the squirrel that could very well save her apprentices life.

Juniperpaw had greencough. Only four cats in Mapleclan were sick right now, and her apprentice was the worst. He spent every day just sleeping in the medicine cats den, unaware of time passing by, waking only to eat or drink.

She suspected that Halfmark, Mapleclans medicine cat, didn't believe the apprentice would survive another moon. All the more reason to concentrate on her catch, to prove Halfmark wrong.

Another step closer to the squirrel, to helping her clan. At least the powdery snow underfoot muffled what little sound her paws made.

A few more steps brought her within a few tail lengths of her prey. She rocked her weight onto her hind legs and prepared to spring. A gentle breeze started blowing from the squirrel towards her, carrying the scent of the creatures fur to her nose along with something else. She recognized the scent at the exact same moment her prey did. The squirrel bolted across the snow for the nearest tree. Rainsong flung herself after it, kicking up snow in her desperate attempt to catch it.

A moment later it disappeared from sight beneath the roots of an old oak tree. At almost the exact same moment, an all to familiar tabby brown cat rounded a corner and came IN to view.

_Great, I've traded one furball for another less useful one_... She thought angrily as the tom padded over.

"Oh hey Rainsong. Didn't expect to see you all the way out here." His voice was a tad more musical then most toms, but that didn't change the fact that he WAS a tom, and a pretty clueless one at that. For the first few days after receiving her warrior name, when everyone around her seemed to be avoiding her like she had a bad case of whitecough, he'd gone out of his way to include her. At first she thought he was pitying her. But now she had reason to believe he was interested In something more.

"Hey Mudbrain. Do you always go tramping around through the forest as noisily as a badger? Or is this a special occasion?" she glared at him for a moment then continued before he could reply. "You owe me a squirrel. I would have caught it if your stench hadn't scared it away... what are you doing out here anyways?"

The rapid-fire accusations followed by a question seemed to catch him off guard.

"I er no um.... Boarder patrol... I was heading out to check the boarders."

This was a cat that could have his brain totally die and his feet wouldn't miss a beat. As his mouth stuttered, his feet moved steadily forwards without missing a step. A moment later he was besides her, rubbing his muddy-brown pelt that he'd gotten his name for against her lighter grey-blue one.

Rainsong quickly pulled away, letting Muddypelt fall over into the snow. "Boarder patrol huh? You wouldn't mind telling me where the rest of your patrol is would you?" She watched as he got up and shook most of the clinging snow from his pelt, waiting for him to take the bait.

"I could ask you the same question." Was his simple reply. He probably thought himself terribly clever for evading her trap. When in reality he'd only dug himself deeper. She gave him that moment of success as she turned and groomed her ruffled fur back into place.

"Oh their probably back at camp by now. Hunting hasn't exactly been it's greatest recently... Besides, everyone knows I hunt best _alone_." She put emphasis on the last word. Watching his expression for any sign that he recognized that he'd been outmaneuvered. It stayed as emotionless as ever.

"Alright alright you caught me, there is no boarder patrol. I came out here to find you."

She kept the shock from her face, this was certainly a new development. What could Muddypelt possibly be looking for her for? Instinctively her claws slid out and dug into the snow. "Riversong taught me how to fight you know." She growled while backing away from him.

The tom chuckled and smiled his lopsided grin. "Hey nothing like that. I just wanted to be the one to tell you that Juniperpaws recovering. He was asking for you when I last saw him."

Rainsongs heart skipped a beat. Could it be true? Was her apprentice really on the path to recovery?

"You still owe me that squirrel." Her voice cracked, half from shock, half from hope. Without wasting another minute she turned and started running for camp as fast as her legs would carry her. The sound of Muddypelts laughing faded in the distance as she ran, carefully avoiding bushes and undergrowth in the half-hearted thought that she might find some prey to take back too.


End file.
